From home schooling to inability to claim lottery prizes, Ontario’s ombudsman received more than 800 complaints due to COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic kept the office of Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dube busy with complaints about people unable to reach government offices, unhappy with home schooling and unable to claim lottery prizes.

Dube launched an investigation June 1 into the provincial government's oversight of nursing homes, where more than 1,809 residents have died from the highly contagious virus. He released his annual report on Tuesday.

If there is one lesson we can draw from this pandemic, it is how much citizens rely on their public services," he said, citing more than 800 complaints related to COVID-19.

Given the scale of this pandemic and the speed with which it spread, there were bound to be gaps."

The Ministry of Health reported 157 new cases of the virus in its Tuesday morning report, including five residents and one staffer in nursing homes, where 5,473 residents and 2,284 workers have been infected since January.

In his 92-page report, Dube said complaints related to COVID-19 ranged from concerns about personal protective equipment for staff and residents of youth group homes, to a member of a group that won a $1 million lottery prize and was unable to reach Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation's prize centre because it was shut down due to the pandemic.

When the ombudsman's office intervened, OLG officials told us the group's claim had been approved, and it sent the cheques to the winners the same day."

There was also the case of a disabled woman with cancer, who was relying on the Ontario Disability Support Program for income. She needed money for transportation but could not reach her case worker because the office was closed - a problem that was rectified.

Moms, dads and kids were also not thrilled with the new world of education at home instead of the classroom.

Many parents and students complained to us about such issues as the quality and accessibility of at-home learning," Dube's report said.

There were also complaints that daily briefings by Premier Doug Ford and chief medical officer Dr. David Williams were not in French - which changed when simultaneous translations or subtitles were made available on the government's YouTube channel for Ford's news conferences and on the legislature's website with translation.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1